Switch
by Happytoenail
Summary: Hinata and Temari are friends and they get bored and decide to switch siblings for two weeks. Hinata and Kankuro live in this cabin by a river while Temari, Gaara, and Neji stay in Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro's house. Rated M for language, but not too sugg
1. Chapter 1 The Plan

This is my first fanfiction i've submitted, so please don't kill me if you hate it. But if you like it, then please review! I cannot stress this enough!

This is not a HinataxNeji, so don't think that it is! It's mostly a HinataxKankuro, but it's a mixture of more pairings as you'll read later on...

* * *

It was an ordinary day in the life of Hyuuga Hinata. She had to: wake up, brush her hair and teeth, get dressed, make breakfast, train in the forest, and watch Naruto if he was outside, or just sit around and read a book or something. But in between all of that Hinata would find time to slip in a conversation or two with her best friend: Temari.

It had been three years since the chuunin exam, and Hinata and Temari had became good friends since then, although Temari was now 17 and Hinata was only 16. The two had also changed in appearance.

Hinata still wore the same overly baggy jacket and overly baggy sweat pants, but her hair had grown. She still had the same bowl cut, but the two strands of purple hair that come out of the bowl grew to her shoulders. While Temari wore a blue dress with a small metal plate covering her chest.

The two had, as you can imagine, very busy schedules. But Hinata and Temari would find time in their lives to text message each other and inform the other about what happened that day. They would sometimes talk about their siblings and how annoying they are. And make jokes about their fellow ninjas and sometimes each other.

But today, when Hinata turned on her cell phone, there was something different than usual conversations.

Hinata looked down on her cell phone screen and saw the message Temari had sent her. "Hey Hinata, I was wondering wht you think of Kankuro?"

Hinata quickly typed: "I think he's funny, but nothing else."

A new message appeared on the screen. "Want to trade 4 Neji?"

Hinata laughed a little and typed: "Lol. Sure if I could."

"But u can."

"Wtf? How?"

"Hm I don't know."

"Think we could?"

"Let's make it happen!"

Temari closed her cell phone and smiled deviously. She was sick and tired of Kankuro making a mess with Karasu and getting wood and metal pieces that she didn't recognize all over the floor. And whenever Temari would mention fried rice Kankuro would look down and walk away from wherever they were. This was something to definitely look forward too!

And Hinata was tired of Neji thinking he was so cool, and she was sick with Hanabi being such a brat. So the two decided to meet each other at the gates of the Fire Village.

The Fire Village wasn't a very popular place; it was a ways a way from the other villages. The Fire Village didn't really have any enemies or allies. So it was just a good spot. Now the only problem in this plan was to get the family to agree. First, they had to capture Neji and Kankuro, which isn't an easy task. Second, they Hinata had to find a place to stay. Hiashi wouldn't allow another man in the house, and he wouldn't allow Neji to stay at another girl's house for a month. So Hinata had to think of a plan.

The next day she went with Kiba and Shino on a mission. All they had to do was help an elderly lady plant flowers in her garden. While they were leaving the woman hollered for Hinata to come over.

"Oh young girl over there, would you sit with me for a while?" Hinata put on a confused look but started towards her anyway. "Um sure." The lady sat down on her porch and began to pat a spot on the porch where Hinata could sit.

The lady wore huge black sunglasses that covered her eyes on all sides. She had a white robe on that reached to her ankles. And her hair was a strange shade of powdery white. She was dressed oddly, but she was as sweet and adorable as a grandma. At least that's what Hinata thought.

"Hello dear. It's a beautiful day out isn't it?" The lady whistled and lisped while she talked so it was hard for Hinata to fully understand.

"Yes it is. It was a perfect day to work on your garden." She said while looking up at the sky.

"Oh but you and your little friends did all the work, my dear. And while I'm on that subject I'd like to thank you for all your hard work today."

Hinata smiled weakly. This lady obviously didn't know much if she thought that Kiba and Shino were "little". "Thanks. But it was only gardening. Anybody could do it."

"Oh but I couldn't. Not with these bones I couldn't. But that's beside the point. I wanted to ask you about your eyes." She said as if Hinata were a freak at the spring carnival.

"I was born with them this way. I know they're a little freakish, but they help me when I'm fighting." Soon after she explained about her eyes she looked down a little.

"Oh not about that!" Hinata looked up almost instantly with a surprised look on her face. "I know all about the Byakugan and the Hyuuga clan! I was talking about the color of your eyes." "The c-color?" Suddenly she put her hands over her eyes as if trying to hide them. Then two of her fingers split apart and one of those lavender eyes peeked out. "What's so special about them?" She said defensively "And how do you know about my clan?"

The lady smiled. "I noticed that they're lavender. Back in my day lavender was the sign of hopeless love. Whenever a person got dumped or rejected, they would wear lavender to show their sorrow." Hinata began to blush and removed her hands from her face. "_How did she know about Naruto?_"

Then, the lady took Hinata's left hand and placed something that felt like metal in it. She then shut Hinata's hand and smiled at her. Hinata took back her hand and saw that there was a lavender bird made out of metal resting in her palm. She then started to blush and stuttered. "I-I can't take this! I-It's got to be about a thousand bucks! Besides we only just met!" The lady then smacked Hinata's head, which brought Hinata back into reality.

"Silence. God, you're acting I'm a man proposing to you with a gold ring." Then she sighed and looked at Hinata. "Take it. Whenever you're feeling sad or heartbroken, just kiss the bird and something good will happen to make your heart soar in love once again." Hinata was looking down at the bird and smiled. "Thank you. I'll make sure to pay you back one day."

She then stood up and walked towards her house. She turned around and began walking backwards and waving. "Goodbye! And thanks again!" The lady smiled and waved back. "Goodbye! And watch out for that tree!" "_Huh?"_ She then turned around and hit the tree face forward. She could hear the lady laughing and suddenly felt like George of the Jungle.

Hinata began walking through the forest separating her clan house from the rest of the village. While she was walking she thought about things. She thought about how she was going to get her family to agree to the switch. And she was thinking about the bird the lady gave her. "_What should I do with it? Should I kiss it and hope Naruto hangs out with me? What would happen if I did kiss it and somebody walked in on me when I did?_" Then she came up with a plan. "THAT'S IT!" Then after a while of standing there she realized she said "that's it" aloud and started to blush.

That night Hinata told Temari her plan and the new place to meet and after explaining how this place was a good spot Temari finally agreed.

Next morning Hinata woke up early so she could speak with her father about Neji. Meanwhile in Neji's room, his birds were chirping like hell (which woke Neji up). And while Neji was walking down the hall to grab a class of milk he happened to over hear Hinata and his Father talking.

"Well, Father, I know how much you want me to get married to a member of the Hyuuga clan. So, branch house or not, I've decided to marry……."

There was a long pause and as Hinata was trying to make a fake blush, but could not. Then she began to twiddle her fingers, which was a gesture she used a lot when she was nervous.

"..N-Neji!" The blush slowly appeared for a reason Hinata just did not know.

Hiashi was both devastated and overwhelmed when he heard the news. He was so startled he even started to fall back but caught himself half way. He began to shake and smile sharply, which scared Hinata and caused her to move back a little. _"My daughter was going to be a wife, and to a very strong husband_!"

He suddenly stood up and put a grim expression on his face. Hinata looked up and made a confused face. "F-father?" His face moved at the speed of light when it rested on his daughter. Then his smiled his big goofy grin he only used once every five years.

While Hiashi was overly happy by the news, Neji was devastated.

He turned his back towards the window he was peeking through, hung his head, crouched down, and began to breathe heavily. "_Marriage? Hinata? Hiashi actually smiled?" _He was confused, scared, and a cluster of a lot of other different emotions. Neji put his head up, his eyes filled with determination. He stood up and held his arm in front of his chest, clenching his fist. "I'm going to go talk to her!" He stood there for a couple of seconds and then Hiashi opened the window.

Neji feel backward and blushed madly. "BASTARD!" Hiashi grinned devilishly. "Be good to Hinata."

Hiashi walked down the hall to the main house, leaving Neji there clueless.

"Ohhhh Kankurooooo!" Temari hollered with her hands cupped over her mouth. "Get your lazy ass over to the table it's lunch time!"

Kankuro was outside in the training area of the household when he heard Temari's scream. "Comiiiing!" He grabbed Karasu and ran toward the dining area.

Kankuro entered the room where he sat down with his two siblings. "Hey you got here in.." Gaara glanced at the clock on the wall. "Oh I'd say about an hour. Hey wow that's a new record I'd suggest joining the track team with that speed." Gaara said sarcastically. "Suck my-"Temari had hit him from across the table with her giant fan before he could finish.

"Hey Kankuro. I was wondering, what do you think of Hinata?"

Kankuro gagged a couple of times from choking on his food. "You bitch, THERE ARE OTHER WAYS OF GETTING MY ATTENTION!"

Temari hit him again. "Answer me you fag." She said between closed eyes and gritted teeth.

Kankuro scowled. "The shy Hyuuga that you talk to all the time?" Temari nodded. "Hmmm. I dunno. I never really got to know her."

Temari smiled deviously and squinted her eyes a bit. "How would you like to spend a week or two with her?" Kankuro was, of course, confused.

"Uh I'm sorry, but what kind of question is that?"

"A question. I'm not very good with grammar so I don't know the details but..."

"Oh shut up, I get it." Then he slid his chair away from the table and started towards the training grounds. "Sayonara."

Temari stomped her left foot on the ground and clenched her fists at her side. "Damn!" Gaara looked sheepishly at Temari and began to suspect something.

Hinata was still on the porch holding one of her birds and staring into the horizon. She was thinking of a way to convince Neji to go with her to the Yoshino River. The Yoshino River is located in the deepest part of the forest, and is one of the hardest rivers to get to. Most ninja's used the river to train, but it was fall and usually people train in the summer. There was a small cabin built for a small family but the family died and now it's abandoned.

While she was thinking little did she know that Neji was watching her. He finally summed up the courage to ask her about the whole marriage thing.

"Err Hinata-sama?"

"Neji? What do _you_ want? "

Neji was appalled at his cousin's remark. It wasn't something one would say to the person they wanted to marry.

"I heard you uhh talking to Father about something about a uhh marriage, and uhh what the hell is up with that."

Hinata could see that Neji was blushing, even though he was turned the other way with his arms behind his back. Then she grabbed his collar and pushed his ear by her face and whispered: "Fathers coming, I'll be in my room and tell you all about it."

Hinata hopped down from the patio and started towards the front door. Neji looked towards her with a confused look on his face and heard the crackling of the leaves she was crumbling. Then the confused Hyuuga felt his Fathers hand on his shoulder and looked up to see tears of happiness roll down his face.

Meanwhile, in Sunagakure, Temari was having just as much trouble getting Kankuro to agree to the bet the two kunoichis bet. First she tried to tie one of her famous home-made pork roasts on a string, and placed it in a cage to see if he would fall for it. But Kankuro was tired of eating pork roasts all the time, so Temari tried another tactic. She was thinking hard when Gaara walked by.

"Wow your actually thinking for once!"

"Bite me."

"Tch, why don't you make yourself useful and make me a sandwich.'

That's when Temari thought of an idea.

"Gaara-sama?"

Gaara looked at his sister like she was some sort of psycho.

"S-sama?"

"Help me capture Kankuro. PLEEEEEEEASE?"

Gaara looked at his elder sister awkwardly. "Is your brain working properly today? Why would you want to capture Kankuro? Do you need him for chores? Do you want a slave? Does he have rabies or something? Or do you….."

Gaara was instantly pummeled, bitch slapped, and nagged to death for about an hour. Gaara was nearly dead when finally the furious Temari stopped.

"Piss off. I..."

There was a long pause and Temari was deciding in her head that she couldn't keep this away from her brother anymore, and decided to tell Gaara what was going on. And eventually, Gaara agreed to help Temari capture Kankuro.

Kankuro was in his room building a new puppet when the two came in. Temari had a sparkle in her eye, and Gaara…..was just being Gaara.

"EYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Back in Konoha, Hinata was holding Nova, her favorite bird. Nova had feathers the color of pearls that shined in the light, and her claws were neatly trimmed so they were sharp yet dull at the same time. Her beak was long and pointy, while her singing sounded like a flute. Hinata had Nova since she was a little kid. And would always try to hum the tune of the birds' song, but usually messed it up and caused the bird to stop.

"You wanted to talk to me?"

Hinata fell off her chair in fright. She started to scream and blush in embarrassment while Nova flew off her hand and perched on the wooden frame surrounding Hinata's bed.

"YOU BASTARD WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"

"YOU SAID TO COME IN HERE!"

"I DIDN'T SAY TO SCARE ME!"

"I ONLY ASKED IF YOU WANTED TO TALK TO ME YOU BITCH!"

"OH FIRST YOU SCARE ME AND NOW YOU INSULT ME!"

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING I JUST WALKED INTO YOUR ROOM!"

"YOU WALKED INTO MY ROOM WITHOUT PERMISSION!"

"WOULD YOU GUYS JUST SHUT UP!" Hanabi screeched. Then Hinata heard a thump on her wall. "_That little whiney bitch must've thrown something. I f only Temari was as fond of Hanabi as she is of Neji…"_

'She must've thrown something. Tch, the little whiney bitch." Neji said. Hinata looked up at him. "_Is he reading my mind?"_

"Don't get off topic here you walked in and I didn't give permission." Hinata said while pointing a finger at Neji.

Neji sighed and sat down next to her. He knew she hadn't proved any point, but he also knew there was no way she would let him win.

"It's about the marriage thing." He said. He looked very serious.

Hinata looked at him strangely. Then she placed her fist in the other hand, motioning that she remembered.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHHAHA" Hinata laughed while holding the wooden frame so she wouldn't fall of the bed.

"What?" He said startled. This was not the reaction he expected.

"AHAHA OH MY GOD!"

"TELL ME WHATS GOING ON DAMMIT!" He cried, blushing furiously.

"Oh my side." She said still laughing a little and clenching the side of her baggy jacket. "I just want to go to the river. Father would never let me go alone with you, so I had to make up this whole big story."

"What river?" He said suspiciously.

"Umm the uhh Yoshino River?"

Hinata smiled weakly, bringing her head closer to her shoulders like a turtle.

Nejis eyes widened in surprise. "THE YOSHINO RIVER!" He was standing up now with his fists at his sides.

"Err….yeah?" She stuttered with a slight sign of fright in her voice.

He pulled his fists to his chest and began to shake. "HELL YEAH! I'VE WANTED TO GO TO THAT RIVER EVER SINCE I WAS FOUR!"

Hinata's eyes widened in surprise. "You have? S-so you'll go with me?"

Neji started walking towards the door and stopped in next to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Heh I wouldn't let my little sister down now would I?"

It's true that Neji is only her cousin, but hearing him relate her to a sister made her feel special. It was also a weird feeling. Hinata began to feel warmth in his words, and began to blush at this thought.

Hinata watched him walk out the door leading to the hall. "_I just hope Temari's having as much trouble as I am." _She thought to herself.

She stared at her door, adventuring through her thoughts to find out what was wrong with her. "Chirp!" Hinata soon returned to the real world and saw Novas tilted head. She smiled and took her off of the wooden frame. She held those small feet in her hand and gently let Nova perch on her arm. She heard the bird begin her song and started to hum along with her. This time, she finally got the tune right.

* * *

Ok that's it for chapter 1. Review if you like it, don't bug me if you hate it. Tell me what I need to improve, compliment, encourage, if not then just keep it to yourself and shut the hell up.


	2. Chapter 2 Getting There

It had been a week since Hinata and Temari had agreed to switch Kankuro and Neji. The September breeze was starting to come in and the days were getting colder as they prepared for winter. Hinata woke up an hour early to get prepared and pack for the two week trip to the Yoshino River. The night before when Hinata was supposed to pack was much too busy.

Hiashi was overly happy about Neji and Hinata traveling together to a river far away. He was unaware of the fact that it would not be Neji with Hinata, but Kankuro. Neji was innocent too, for he thought that Hinata just tricked their father into thinking that they were going to marry. Not that she was tricking both of them.

Hiashi began drinking and after a while was completely drunk. He made Neji and Hinata get into marriage robes and had them sit "seiza position" on pillows. The two had to sit there while Hiashi danced around them in his drunken state. And Hanabi was pulling Hinata's cheek and calling Neji lover boy while prancing around with her drunken father.

While Hinata was suffering with her family Temari was having the time of her life. She and Gaara had a net and were chasing Kankuro around the house in attempt to capture him. The whole house was chaotic. Whenever Kankuro made a turn he would knock over something and Temari would stop to gasp at whatever he broke and swear at Kankuro. Kankuro was sweating and gasping for breath, he had been stalked everywhere he went, including the bathroom. He never knew it was so important to Temari that he hangs out with Hinata.

It was morning time now and Hinata was sore and tired from last night. She could only sit seiza position for a couple of minutes, but last night she had to sit like that for hours until Hiashi was sober. She got dressed in her usual cloths: an overly baggy jacket and overly baggy black sweat pants. She didn't think it would be important to dress up for Kankuro.

She was walking down the hall with her head down; she was much too tired even to put her head up. She could walk to the hall while looking at her feet; she had done it many times before and memorized the path. She was making a turn when she hit Neji and fell backwards.

"Oww. Damn Neji your head's as hard as a rock." Neji looked down at her with a confused look on his face. "You didn't hit my head, you hit my chest." Then he yawned and walked to his room. Leaving Hinata sitting there blushing. "_Bastard."_

While Hinata was awake and packing, Temari was asleep. Temari was completely unaware of what the time was and thought she could sleep in today. Luckily for her, Gaara doesn't sleep and was able to wake her up in time. Gaara was standing outside her door with his arms crossed. His gourd was clinging to his back with one of his white cloths, and the cork that usually sealed it was on the floor right under him.

"Hmph. It's locked." He said with absolutely no emotion in his voice. Kankuro grumbled. He was trapped in a giant net behind him. The net was glowing blue with chakra and there was no chance of escape for Kankuro. "Tch that bitch is probably still sleeping." "SILENCE." Then the net around Kankuro tightened as Gaara closed his hand slightly so it looked like he was about to make a fist. Kankuro was bleeding slightly and breathing heavier than before.

"B-bastard." He said on the verge of passing out.

Much to Kankuro's surprise, he didn't see Gaara tighten his hold on the net, but he saw Gaara's other hand out in front of him. He saw sand form around Gaara's arm and knew what he was going to do. "**Sand Bullet no jutsu**" Then Kankuro saw the sand form into a giant ball then Gaara pulled his hand towards him. And with a couple of hand signals, he shot his hand forward and the ball shot towards the door. Temari heard her door slam out of the frame and land on the floor.

"GAARA WHAT THE HELL?" Temari cried. Gaara noticed that her hair wasn't put into the four ponytails as they usually are and her hair was down a little below her shoulders. It was messy and there were strands sticking out or the sides.

"You were asleep." Gaara replied, again with no trace of emotion. "Did you forget what day today is?"

"Gasp! I totally forgot! Oh my God what am I gonna do?" It was clear that she was panicking. She hopped out of bed and ran past her two siblings and started towards the bathroom. "Gaara! Can you get Kankuro a couple pairs of cloths? Thanks!"

Gaara turned around and saw that his sister was gone. He grabbed the net with the hand he used to perform the Sand Bullet jutsu and dragged it with him to the bathroom. When he got to the bathroom Temari was tying up her hair. She had two turquoise hair bands in her mouth and was working on her second ponytail.

"I already packed Kankuro's stuff." Gaara stated.

"Great. Shanks." Temari finished with her second ponytail and took another hair band out of her mouth.

"Shouldn't you hurry?"

"Nah. The shings an hour ahay." Temari finished with her third ponytail and began on the last. "But you're right. We should get going, just let me get dressed and…."

She realized that she needed something to wear. I mean Neji was going to be at her house for two weeks, and she needed to look presentable for the first day. Then she realized that the house was a mess. All that running around and chasing after Kankuro really wrecked the place up. She began to panic again.

Meanwhile Hinata had nothing to worry about. She was packing all her cloths and a couple of things to keep her busy. She had went to the local book store days earlier and bought a couple of books to read while she was trying to fall asleep. She also brought a couple of board games. "_This is going to be great!_"

She was finally completely packed and hopped on her bed. Her back sank into the cushions and she sighed. Tonight was going to be the last day sleeping in this bed for a while. She rolled to her left and saw Nova in her cage. The bird was chirping and hopping around. Hinata smiled and opened the cage. "Goodbye Nova. I'll miss you!" Then she put the bird up to her face and rubbed the soft feathers against her forehead.

"Hinata! Are you ready yet?" Neji was standing at the door, his arms crossed. He was wearing the same gray shirt with the same blue shorts. And the bandages still around his right arm and leg. Hinata put the bird back in her cage and made sure Nova had fresh food and water. "Yeah." She took on last look around her room. "I'm ready."

They walked toward the main house and found Hiashi, Hanabi, and the rest of the Hyuuga house blocking the gate. They were all smiling deviously and staring at the two confused Hyuuga's. "W-what's going on here?" Hinata stuttered. "Well Hinata, today is the last day we'll see you two as children." Hiashi smiled deviously at his two children. Neji put on a confused face. "What do you mean?"

"It means that if you two are going into a cabin by a beautiful river for two weeks, there's an eighty percent chance that you two will have mad sex and fill this house with children!" Hanabi cried unable to contain herself. Hinata was startled by how blunt her sister was and began blushing rapidly. She looked over at Neji who was also blushing.

"N-no i-it's not like that at all!" But Hinata's stuttering only made things worse.

"Riiiiiiiight whatever you say Hinata, but I know Neji wants to do the naughty." Hanabi looked over at Neji meaningfully.

"Uh Hinata let's go already! Wouldn't want to be late!" And with that, Neji grabbed Hinata's hand and walked out the door.

After Hinata and Neji were outside the gate Neji stopped and let go of Hinata's hand. He saw that his siblings face was beet red. Thoughts were racing through her head and she was trying to summarize what had just happened. "_Why did he avoid Hanabi's question?_ _Why did hold my hand? Is this really Neji I'm standing next to?_" She looked over at Neji and was as confused as ever.

"Sorry about that." He could see that Hinata was confused. "I had to make it seem like that was the case or else they'd call off the trip." He saw the confusion slip away from her face and smiled a little. "Well c'mon then. Like I said, we don't want to be late!"

Hinata watched as Neji began to walk away and fell back into reality. She ran a little to catch up to him and looked straight ahead. "_Damn him! Even now he still acts like the genius he is."_ Then Hinata smiled a little. "_Thank god though. Without him, I'd never have been able to get past the rest of my genius family."_

Gaara watched as his sister ran around the house throwing things into hampers and cleaning up messes. He sighed as Temari tripped over her feet in attempt to race over to the next room. "You just turned seventeen two weeks ago and you still act like a three year old." He said while she zoomed past him to get to the next mess.

"Fuck you!" She was breathing heavily and sweat was covering her forehead.

"We should hurry. But why should I care?" Gaara shrugged and continued to watch his sister. Her suffering kept him amused. He smiled a little when he heard something crash and then the following "Dammit!" Kankuro broke into laughter. It seems no matter how many times this happened it was still funny.

"What time is it?" She yelled while looking over the side of the wall. Gaara frowned and looked at the clock. "We're late."

"Dammit Gaara what am I gonna do?" Temari fell down to her knees and looked down. She was so stressed she was on the verge of tears. Gaara looked over at her and sighed. "Look, the house is clean enough. Besides, he's a guy trust me he won't care."

Temari's face lightened up and she stood with her hands tugging on her hair. "Duh Temari!" She started towards the door continuously saying: "Stupid! Stupid!" She walked over to the corner where she had placed her fan and fastened it around her back. "What are you waiting for? C'mon like you said, we're late." Then she opened the door and walked out.

Gaara stood there for a second looking at the door. Then he grabbed the bag and walked out the door. "Tch, women." Kankuro snarled. "I just don't get em'."

Hinata and Neji were walking through the streets of Konoha trying to get to the gate before anybody saw them. Unfortunately, they were stopped and interviewed by almost everybody in Konoha. First they met up with Shikamaru and Ino. Ino was overly exited to see them and asked hundreds of questions.

"Oh my god! Shikamaru get a camera I knew these two would hook up! So where are you two lovebirds going?" She was almost screaming and Hinata was wondering how Shikamaru could put up with her.

"Training." Neji lied.

"I don't know why you guys even bother." Ino said with her hands at her waist. "You Hyuuga's are strong enough."

"Training is so troublesome." Shikamaru stated.

Ino looked at him angrily. "You think everything's troublesome! I'd bet even I was on your troublesome list!" She laughed a little and then realized that Shikamaru was staring at her meaningfully.

"You're at the top of my list." He said.

Luckily Hinata and Neji managed to sneak away while Shikamaru endured screaming and bitch-slapping from his partner. Hinata began to wonder if that's what Kiba and Shino thought of her, while Neji compared which was worse, Ino or Tenten.

Then they met up with Lee and Tenten, which was worse than the last meeting. Lee and Tenten danced around the two both talking about how they give their best wishes and throwing flowers. Tenten pulled Hinata's cheek and kept saying "Guess you got to him before I did. Well can't change the future, take good care of him or you'll be talking to me!"

Lee wouldn't shut up about how youth brought these two together and how youth and love will decide their fate. Both Hyuuga's wanted to kill themselves.

After their encounter with Neji's teammates, they met up with Hinata's. Luckily for them, Kiba and Shino could care less and didn't question anything. Just as they were about to reach the gates of Konoha and be rescued from all these people, the worst happened for Hinata.

They saw Naruto and Jiraiya arguing about which direction to go. Hinata hid behind Neji in hopes that Naruto wouldn't notice her with her cousin. Naruto looked over at Neji and made a confused face. "Hey Hinata why are you hiding behind Neji?" Hinata fell on the ground and hit her head.

Neji laughed a little and said, "Klutz." Naruto was confused as ever. "You're weird Hinata." Then he turned and looked at Neji. "And I thought you hated each other." He said while pointing an accusing finger at Neji.

"We did." Neji stated calmly. "But our father ordered us to go train together."

Naruto smiled. "Hey that's what we're doin!" Hinata got off the ground and rubbed her head a little. "W-where are you training?" She began to twiddle her fingers.

Naruto's smile grew wider. "The Y-"Jiraiya had hit him before he could finish. "You idiot don't tell anybody where we're training! What if there was a spy anywhere around?"

Naruto grumbled while holding his head. "Damn Ero-sennin." Jiraiya looked at the two Hyuuga's and smiled. "We'll be leaving now. Goodbye!" And with that, Jiraiya grabbed Naruto by the ear and dragged him the opposite way of the gates.

Finally after an hour of interruptions, they got to the gates and started running through the forest. Each eager to get to Yoshino. Hinata had a lot of things to talk about, but didn't want to make it seem like she _wanted_ to talk with Neji. So she waited for him to talk first.

"Damn. A lot of people were up early today." Neji said almost immediately.

Hinata smiled. "I swear brother, you read my mind."

Neji smiled and ran faster. Hinata saw his change in speed and ran faster too. Neji kept looking straight ahead and ran ahead. Hinata was startled at first, then she realized. "_I get it Neji. All right I'll play your game!"_ Hinata ran two times faster than her cousin and soon the race was on.

"Last one there has to drink a cup of river water!" She cried while looking behind her.

As soon as she moved her head forward she saw Neji running right next to her. "Then I hope you're thirsty." And with that he sped ahead so that Hinata could barely see him.

She wasn't the least bit intimidated; she knew he wouldn't run as fast as he could. So she ran up to where he was, and the two Hyuuga's raced at the same pace for the rest of their fifteen mile trip.

Temari and Gaara weren't having as much trouble as the two Hyuuga's were. They had been running in the forest for about half and hour now and were beginning to tire out. Gaara looked over at Temari and saw she was sweating and breathing heavily. Then he looked over at Kankuro who was sitting there with his arms behind his head and his legs crossed inside the net. Temari noticed her brother noticing her and smiled a little.

"Thanks again for dragging that lazy ass for me." Gaara looked over at his sister, and then stared out in front of him. "It's no big deal."

Temari stared wide-eyed at her brother. "No big deal? Are you fucking kidding me! I'm so tired if I had to carry him on top of running I would have passed out minutes ago!"

"Aw quit your bitchen'." Kankuro yawned.

Temari looked angrily at her other brother, then back in front of her. "Gaara!" Gaara closed his eyes and pulled out his hand. "Say no more." Then he closed his hand slightly. The two heard their sibling grunt and continued on.

After a while Temari stopped at a tree. Gaara stopped soon after and looked behind him to see Temaris back on the bark and the fan uncomfortably pushing against her. "Temari there's no time to stop we're going to be late." Temari was shaking and trying to pull herself away from the tree. "I-I can't! There's something pulling me against it!"

Gaara looked puzzled at his sister. "What are you talking about?" He said.

There was a long awkward pause and Temari was struggling to make up an excuse, but after a while she just gave in, as usual. "Nothing," She said finally. "I just needed a rest that's all."

Her brother stared at her puzzled. "If that's all then why didn't you just say so?"

Temari stared wide-eyed at her brother. A couple of years ago he would have called her a slacker and went on without her. She smiled and realized he wasn't so bad when he was nice. "I dunno." She said playfully.

Gaara smirked playfully back. He jumped on the tree Temari was resting, and sat down. He looked up at her and gestured with his hand to sit next to him. She fell to her knees and hung her head. "Phew! Good thing we stopped, anymore and I would've passed out!" Then she looked up and smiled broadly at her brother. "Thanks."

He looked at her and blushed slightly. She almost never smiled at him, and this was the first time her smile ever made him blush. He felt a weird feeling, but he just couldn't describe it. It was either that or he just didn't know how to describe it.

Neji and Hinata were racing side-by-side through the forest. Their backpacks were almost flying off their backs caused by the speed. Hinata could see sweat forming on Nejis forehead, and then felt some on her own. They were both getting tired, but couldn't stop even if they wanted to. Both of their legs were numb, and it would be hard to gain control again if they ever tried to stop. They had no idea that Yoshino would be so far away!

Suddenly Hinata noticed that her breathing was growing heavier than usual. She had to stop running soon or else her legs would give in. She was also very hungry. The two Hyuugas were too busy escaping their friends and their family to get something to eat. This thought made her hungrier and she soon slowed down, preparing to stop.

She was now far behind her cousin and wondered if he would ever stop and notice that she wasn't beside him. She was standing there breathing heavy waiting for her cousin to notice. "_Ok, now I'm pissed. Does he really not notice me?"_

"NEJI YOU BASTARD I STOPPED NOW YOU STOP TOO!" She cried.

Neji looked to his right where his cousin was and realized she _was_ behind him. He instantly stopped and ran toward Hinata's direction. He stopped to her left and began to panic. The worst thing you could do to a girl when you're running is keep going when they stop.

"E-eh sorry Hinata-sama." He stuttered while scratching his head.

Hinata pouted and walked toward him. "You idiot." She said gently. Then she crouched down by a bush and examined some berries. "I'm hungry. Are these edible?" She said.

Neji soon came back to Earth and crouched down beside her. He took some of the berries Hinata had been looking at and began examining them himself. Hinata watched him hopingly, eager, and hungry. Neji smirked and plopped some of the berries in his mouth.

Hinata gasped. "Neji you idiot! Those could be poisonous and we could've used our Byakugan to check!" She instantly saw Neji fall to the ground. He was unconscious.

Hinata stared at her unconscious cousin. She could feel sweat trickle down her neck and began to panic. She knew nothing about herbs and antidotes, and Neji was dying quickly. She instantly picked a green berry and used her Byakugan to analyze it. "It has a soft core." She said. "Good."

She grabbed a kunai and carefully split open the small berry. She tore off a leaf and placed the soft core of the berry in the center. She looked around her anxious to find a weed. She found one only three feet away from her and counted the leaves. There were two.

She used the same kunai she used to slice open the berry and cut off the leaves. Hinata worked frantically to smash the mixture of berry core and leaf to a liquid. Her right palm was bleeding from holding the blade of the knife in order to keep it straight. The blood didn't slow her down a second and soon she had a fine, el natural antidote. Hinata forcefully shoved the mix down Neji's throat and prayed.

In a few minutes Neji was awake.

Hinata threw her arms around him. "Yay! The antidote worked! You're alive!" She cried burying her face in his shoulder. "Err Hinata? You're hurting me." Neji said. Hinata instantly backed away blushing at what she had done. Neji smiled and tried to get up. He fell to the ground shortly after and rubbed his back. "You idiot! You can't get up yet! It takes people at least a day to recover from poison." She cried.

He attempted getting up again but this time fell forward into the ground. Hinata sighed and crouched next to him. She picked up his arms and pulled them to her shoulders, then pulled his legs up to her waist and held his feet. Nejis face turned red. "Wha-What do you think you're doing?" He stuttered.

"Giving you a piggy back ride. You can't walk in your condition and we have to get there soon." She said. And by that time Temari was done resting as well, and both families walked the rest of the way to Yoshino.


	3. Chapter 3 Surroundings

Temari and Gaara walked silently. It had been fifteen minutes since they had stopped to rest, but it felt like hours. Walking, they found, was a much more beneficial way to travel. They could see tons of wildlife and unusual trees that they would've never noticed had they ran.

Besides being able to see the woods, the walk was slightly awkward. The silence was unbearable, and the trio found themselves struggling to find something to say.

Gaara was trying to figure out why he was acting so strange, and why he blushed when he looked at Temari. It was as if he was finding himself deep within his heart.

Temari also found the silence strange, but she had nothing to say that could end it. Kankuro was quietly humming in the net and wondered when they would break into conversation. Five minutes passed and he couldn't take it anymore. He had to break the ice.

"We shouldn't have stopped." He said in his carefree sort of way.

"What?" Temari snapped.

"I mean, we're already late enough right? I wouldn't be surprised if they're at Yoshino already." He said playfully.

"Thank you, Kankuro, your optimism is amazing." She said sarcastically. Then she looked over at her other brother. "So, Gaara, when are you gonna become Kazekage again? Was it six months?"

"Yeah, six months. I need to wait for all the paper work to be signed and the officials to complete something important, I forgot." He replied.

"Oh, ok." She said with slight sadness in her voice.

Gaara soon realized he needed to say something nice about her. All they've been talking about so far was Kazekage and Yoshino. "I think," she began. "I think you'll make a great Kazekage."

His eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't heard such kind words since he met Naruto, and that was two years ago. Whenever someone complimented him it felt as if his damaged heart was repairing itself. He rarely heard nice things about himself, Gaara of the sand, Shukaku's vessel.

Hinata was about to collapse. Neji weighed more than it looked, and she had been carrying him for at least a mile. She wondered if the antidote had fully healed him yet and she could walk without him on her back. His head was resting on her shoulder and he looked extremely bored.

"Are we there yet?" He wined.

"No." She replied.

"Are we there yet?" He repeated.

"No." She said angrily.

"Are we there now?" He yawned.

"YES!" She cried.

Hinata had caught a glimpse of the cabin and a sparkle from the sun hitting the river water, and at that moment she felt as if she had stepped into heavens gates.

She threw him off her and ran full force to the cabin. She stood in front of the small wooden house and gazed at its porch and door and garden. She fell to the ground and sat staring at what she was going to live in for the next two weeks.

"Heellloo?" Neji called. "I can't walk!"

She turned around and picked him up and placed him on the steps of the cabin. They sat there gazing into the water and watching fish hop out of the water. Neji looked over at Hinata and smiled. "So should we go inside?" He asked.

"No." She said firmly. "I want to stay out here for a little while longer." Then she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. His face turned red and he tried to move away but the poison still paralyzed him.

After a while Hinata came back into reality and realized she was leaning against Neji. She flew back and screamed causing her to fall off the steps. She laid there, face first into the dirt. And if the dirt wasn't there here face would be red not light brown.

She got up and brushed the dirt off of her body and her face. Soon after Neji heard a rustling in the bushes. "They're back." He said. "Hide now!"

Hinata simply smiled. "I'm sorry Neji." She said quietly. "Huh?" But before he could say anything more Temari had come out of the bush. "Hinata! You got here before we did?"

Neji stared wide-eyed with his jaw down at Temari. Temari ran over to Hinata and they had their greetings. Gaara and Kankuro quickly came out of the bushes and stared at the cabin. "Whoa." Kankuro said. "I'm gonna live in here for two weeks? Awesome!"

Gaara untied the net wrapped around Kankuro and freed him. "He's paralyzed, Gaara. So he won't struggle." Hinata said. Gaara nodded and placed the net around Neji and tied it again. "Hinata what the hell is going on?" He cried. Hinata smiled. "You're going to live with Temari and Gaara for two weeks while I stay here with Kankuro." She answered.

"You bitch!" He cried.

Hinata smiled at Temari, and she smiled back. "Take good care of him." Hinata said.

"Good luck with Kankuro." She replied meaningfully.

"Good luck with Neji." Hinata replied. "You'll need it."

"Heh. So sure are you?" She joked. "Anyway you brought your cell phone with you right?"

Hinata hung her head. "No. I didn't think to bring it."

Temari laughed a little and handed her a dark blue cell phone. "Here," she said. "Use it for emergencies, ok? It's only halfway charged and if something happened you'd be in deep shit without it."

Hinata nodded. She knew full well what would happen, but she didn't want to think about this vacation as a negative thing.

And with that, the trio left into the forest. Hinata turned around a looked at Kankuro, who was sitting on the steps scratching his head. She didn't know what to do. It seemed fine when they were just talking about it, but now she was going to be living with a guy she hardly knew for two weeks!

"So what do you want to do?" He asked.

She thought a little. The thought had never crossed her mind before. "Let's go explore the area!" She said finally.

Kankuro got up and walked with Hinata down the river bank. It was actually a great idea. They got to know each other a little bit better and had a great idea of what they were going to be living in. Paradise.

They pointed when they saw a fish or a squirrel, and jumped on the huge rocks that outlined the river bed. Kankuro crouched down to look at a fish and it spit water in his face, which caused Hinata to laugh. They walked down a little and found a hot spring. Then past that they found a waterfall.

After they found everything there was to find and saw everything there was to see outside, they decided to look inside the cabin. Kankuro opened the sliding door and gasped at what he saw. The living room was right in front of them. It had two couches sitting side by side by the fireplace and two chairs sat on the other side by the kitchen. There was a brown rug underneath the couches and a small table by the chairs. The table had a light blue cloth and a small yellow lamp on top of it.

They walked into the kitchen which had light gray tile on the floor and a white rug in front of the sink. There was a white stove on the left side and a white refrigerator on the right. It wasn't too special. Kankuro walked towards the fridge and swung open the door. He groaned and pulled open the freezer door. It got the same reaction.

"Oh great what the hell are we gonna eat now?" He said.

"Yeah you're right," Hinata replied. "I never thought of bringing anything to the cabin, and my cousin tried one of the berries and got poisoned."

There was a long awkward pause. They both knew what they had to do, but they just didn't know how they were gonna do. Hinata was the first to speak up.

"The fish." She said quietly.

"In the river." He finished.

They turned their heads to look at each other, both with expressions of worry on their faces. Hinata knew how to cook, and she had cooked tons of things for her family in the past. The only problem was they were never that good and everybody had to pretend to like it, except for Hiashi. All he had to do was throw it out and beat Hinata for her failure. She would never impress him.

Plus, Kankuro wasn't the best fisher. All of his reflexes were incredibly slow and lacking, and he couldn't use Karasu either. All the puppets bolts and screw would rust, and the wood would swell. They were doomed.

But they decided they would worry about their little predicament later and continue to explore their house. And by the end of the day they had chosen their rooms and unpacked everything they brought with them. The only problem was the food.

"Ugh I'm starved." Kankuro groaned.

"Me too." Hinata groaned back. "We should probably try to get some fish or try to find some edible plant."

"We could eat insects." He suggested. "Or we could kill some birds."

"Without Shino we wouldn't know what insect is poisonous or not, and I'm not too fond of bird killers." She replied.

"Okay, first thing's first, who the hell is Shino, and since when do you have a fondness for birds?" He said.

"Shino is my partner who specializes in bug use," She answered. "And I happen to love birds thank you very much."

Kankuro raised his brow. This wasn't the shy little helpless girl he had known from the Chuunin exam. In fact, she was the exact opposite. He held his hands in the air defensively. "All right, all right I'll get some damn fish." He groaned.

Hinata sighed. "And I guess I'll heat up the stove." She said.

"But I doubt that there'll be any fish out this late." He said. "And I doubt that stove will actually work it looks pretty old."

"Did I ever tell you that you could win a Nobel Prize for optimism?" She replied sarcastically.

"That's the second optimism joke I've gotten today." He mumbled.

Hinata watched as he walked out the door and stretched. She wondered how he was going to catch anything with his normal cloths on, and then she realized what she was thinking and blushed.

Kankuro twisted his neck once or twice. He looked behind him and saw Hinata turning on of the knobs of the stove in the window. He saw her happy expression when a small fire started of the stove, and then saw her panicked, yet hilarious, expression when the fire got too big and set the metal pot ablaze. He laughed a little and took off his hat.

He threw off his shirt and it landed on the same rock his hat landed on. He took off his shoes and rubbed off his makeup. He sighed and jumped into the water. Hinata caught a glimpse of his head popping out of the water. She was curious to see what he looked like without the makeup, but she could only see the back of his head, and his wet brown hair.

Hinata soon realized she was staring at Kankuro and felt her face turn red with embarrassment. She didn't know how much of this she could take, and it had only been hours since she left Neji in her friends care. Then she wondered how they were doing, and if Neji was still swearing at her.

"Damn Hinata." Neji said.

The trio had been walking in the forest for almost an hour now, and Neji was still complaining. Temari couldn't' take it anymore, she had to tell him to shut up or she would die.

"Ugh, Neji dear god if I had known you'd be this annoying I would've left you at Yoshino!" Temari said.

Neji crossed his arms inside the net and frowned. "I wish you would've left me at Yoshino." He said. "I barely know you people!"

"What do you mean 'you people'?" Gaara said fiercely.

"I mean you and your sister." Neji said. "Who else?"

"He meant," Temari growled. "That you're referring to the Sand as a bunch of Indians."

Neji sighed. "That's not what I meant at all. Look, we're getting off at a bad start. Let's try to get along."

"Hmph." Both sand ninjas said, and they continued their journey in silence. The two siblings no longer pointed when they saw something amazing or unusual, even when there were a lot of new things in the afternoon. Neji worried if they thought of him as some kind of whiney brat, and that wasn't him.

He wondered if he was going to have any fun at Sunagakure, and he wondered why Temari wanted him over. Or was she just trying to hook Kankuro up with Hinata. He couldn't take it anymore. All these questions floated around in his head, it gave him a headache.

"Temari," Neji said. "Why did you want to trade me for Kankuro?"

Temari closed her eyes. She hated it when people asked her questions where she had to think up a safe answer without letting too much information go. "Kankuro seemed lonely ever since his old friend died." She said quietly. "So I thought Hinata would be the perfect person to break his loneliness."

Neji nodded, he knew it was true. Hinata wasn't the shy little girl she was three years ago. She had matured and now the only time when she got shy or twiddled her fingers was when she was talking about or to Naruto. "Yeah." He said. "But be warned," This caught Temari's attention, "She's one of the few girls who you grow to like in a short amount of time."

Temari smirked. "I know full well what you're talking about." She said. "She got the wrong number and called me on accident. We've been friends ever since."

Gaara chuckled. "It seems her klutzy side is what attracts people." He said, clearly amused.

Everybody started laughing. It was weird, even when Hinata wasn't there; she was still cheering everybody up. It seems she had been watching Naruto a little too much.

"Heh." Neji said. "I got on both of your good sides."

Temari instantly stopped walking. Gaara looked over at his older sister and smiled. "_Here we go again."_

She grabbed her fan and swung it around her, so it was completely folded out and the three dark blue circles facing her. She smirked and swung her fan again. "**Ninpou Kamaitachi!**" She cried.

Soon huge blades of wind shot at all the trees visible and cleared the area around them. She smirked again, clearly pleased with her work. "Ah that was fun!" She said. Neji stared at her confused and startled. Gaara chuckled once again.

"She does this to create time so she doesn't have to admit you're right." He said calmly. "Sometimes I think she's insane but then I just go and make a sandwich or something."

Neji stared dumbfounded at the two sand siblings. He didn't get either one of them. And now he was sort of happy about this switch. He knew it was going to be fun for both him, and Hinata.

"DAMMIT!" Hinata cried. She had cut her fingers at least five times now, and didn't have band-aids to put over them. She stopped cutting the fish for a second to lick the blood away from her index finger. "This has got to be the hundredth time I've done this! I'm such a spaz I swear!"

"You sure you don't want me to cut it." Kankuro said in his own little carefree way. "I'm sure I can help a little, but I'm not sure. Quite frankly I don't really care."

"I'm sure!" She replied. "It's ok you took all the time catching the fish I don't want you to do anything else."

He shrugged. "Fine have it your way."

A couple of minutes went by as Hinata cut the fish and Kankuro sat quietly on the couch watching the river water. It wasn't as great as she thought it would be, but then again it was only the first day. She knew tomorrow she'd have to go swimming, and possibly get him in the water as well.

"DAMMIT!" She cried once more. "Why is this fucking knife so sharp? God dammit I got blood in the fish! Now you can't eat it."

Kankuro threw a puzzled glance at her. "Why can't I eat it?" He asked. "Just because you got blood in it? Tch, the thing's already full of it, so how could it make a difference?"

"Yeah, but…" Hinata sighed. "It's just that my family won't eat it if I spilled anything in it."

"Hmph." He said, and stood up.

She finished licking her finger and picked up the knife, hoping she wouldn't cut herself this time. Kankuro walked into the kitchen and peered over her shoulder. "You little spaz no wonder you keep cutting yourself." He laughed. "You're holding the knife wrong. Here, this is how you do it."

He looked at the hand she was holding the knife in and held it softly. He moved her hand to the fish and pulled it down to slice through the fish. He continued to do this until the fish had over twenty vertical cuts in its side. "Now," He said. "You need to cut it horizontally. Hold it right this time."

Her face turned beet red. He held her hand, what the hell was he thinking? But she shook off her embarrassment and began cutting the fish. He was right, she hadn't cut herself at all after she used the knife holding technique he had shown her.

After about ten minutes the fish was successfully cut. Hinata jumped up and down in joy. Kankuro stood there smiling; he was able to get on her good side sooner than he had thought. Soon they cooked their fish and had a great dinner, both happy about how the switch was going so far.

"Yes!" Temari cried, almost out of breath. "We're here!"

Gaara and Neji both sighed. "You were about to pass out a second ago and now you're jumping around." Neji panted. "Where on earth do you get your energy?"

Temari turned her head towards the older Hyuuga sibling and smiled. "Natural sugars." She replied. "They can work wonders."

Neji laughed to himself, she was just like Hinata. He watched her stumble and wobble and finally saw her fall down to the ground. Gaara pulled out a kunai and sliced the net open, allowing the Hyuuga to move more freely, and walked toward his sister.

"Where are your natural sugars now?" He said while picking her up.

"Gone." She panted, and fell asleep in her brother's arms.

Gaara smiled, and walked toward the door. He stopped halfway and turned his head slightly, so Neji could see his face, but his hair covered his eyes. "You coming?" He asked. Neji understood immediately and walked toward the house he was going to live in, for what would seem like years.


	4. Chapter 4 Fooooooooooood

"Ugh." Hinata groaned.

She lay in her small, yet comfortable bed. The light flooded the room through the window that had been placed right at the foot of her bed. The morning sun hit her eyes and she awoke almost instantly.

"This damn light." She said while rubbing her eyes. "Why did they have to put the bed right in front of the window?"

She groaned once more and held her hand up to her eyes to shield the suns powerful rays. She turned to her left and pulled the white blanket over her face hoping the blanket would be a better shielding device than her hand. Realizing she couldn't go back to sleep she began to get up. She sat upright on her bed, balancing her weight on her shoulders, and looked at the forest that surrounded her outside.

"Well, I guess I better get breakfast ready." She said yawning and stretching her arms.

With that, she got out of bed and started toward the front room. Yawning she turned a corner and entered the kitchen. She never would've guessed what she saw.

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me?" She said rubbing her eyes to check. "Kankuro? W-why are you in the kitchen? Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Yup." Kankuro replied. "As a matter of fact I do know what time it is." Then he gave a menacing glance at Hinata. "It's noon. And I thought I slept in late."

Hinata's eyes widened. "N-noon? Oh wow I never even thought anyone could sleep in past nine."

Kankuro's eyes widened as well. "Past nine? Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Ugh." Hinata groaned. "I'm still tired."

He sighed. "Trying to escape the question, eh? Whatever, listen, these eggs are almost done so you can rest on the couch until they're finished."

"Thanks," She said with a smile. "But where'd you get the eggs?"

"Birds nest." He said.

Hinata fell on the couch and sighed. "Well at least you didn't kill them. Anyways, to answer your question in my house my father expects us to wake up at seven, so sleeping in late isn't a possibility." Then she placed her hands on her stomach and sighed.

"Hmm." Kankuro said while flipping the eggs with a spatula. "Sounds to me like your dad is a stiff."

Hinata's face turned red. "A stiff? How the hell do you know what happens down there?"

"No dammit! I mean your dad's a really strict person!" He cried.

"Oh ok." She said, her face returning to normal. "You scared me for a second."

"Jesus." He said blushing.

Gaara stood at the door of Temari's room with his arms crossed. Neji, who had walked by five minutes ago and decided to wait with the younger sand ninja, stood next to him.

"Why are we waiting out here again?" He asked. "She's not late for anything, and I don't see why we can't make breakfast ourselves."

"You don't understand." Gaara said.

The confused Hyuuga raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Is this like a family ritual or something?"

There was a long pause and Gaara finally spoke up. "You don't understand." He repeated. "Temari makes the best freakin' egg, bacon, and toast breakfast you could ever imagine."

"Tch," Neji replied. "I should've known."

Suddenly they heard a yawn from inside the room, and the ruffling of her blanket soon afterward. Neji looked over at Gaara, then at the door, then back at Gaara. His shoulders drooped and he raised his eyebrow once again.

"Why do you wait at her door? Doesn't she get annoyed?" He asked. "I mean I know I would be annoyed if Hinata waited at my door everyday just to tell me to make her breakfast."

Gaara sighed. "Look, this happens everyday. Sometimes she gets annoyed and I just wait at the table, but most of the time she comes out tired and says good morning." He said.

And just as Gaara promised, Temari opened the door yawning and said "Good morning! Why are you both here?"

"Breakfast." Gaara demanded.

And sure enough, Temari just sighed and walked down the hall to the kitchen, with Gaara following. Neji just stood there, confused as ever.

"This is one dysfunctional family." He said to himself. Then smiled and shrugged. "But it's better than my family."

"I wish you would help me, Gaara." Temari said meaningfully while buttering a piece of toast. "Making breakfast isn't that easy by yourself, you know."

"What's wrong, Temari." He replied. "You've never complained about making breakfast by yourself before."

Temari stopped buttering her second piece of toast and turned around to yell at Gaara. "I tell you the same thing everyday you little brat." She said. "And I never get a thank you, and I never get any help!"

Neji turned the corner separating the kitchen from the rest of the front house and sighed. "I'll help you if you want."

Temari turned to look at the older Hyuuga and raised an eyebrow. "Why would you want to help?" She asked. "I thought you barely knew us."

Neji looked down. "I'm sorry for acting that way last night." He said. "That's really not what I'm like at all. I want to help because I feel bad that you have to make everything yourself. Sometimes when Hinata makes breakfast I want to go up and help her, but it would displease my father. So I want to help as much as I can."

Temari looked at Neji and smiled gratefully. "Thank you." She said.

"No problem." He replied. "Just tell me what we're cooking."

Gaara watched jealously as Neji and his sister made breakfast. He didn't know what was making him feel so jealous, and he didn't know what made him feel like he was being abandoned.

"Mmm!" Hinata said as she ate another spoonful of egg. "This is really good! It's better than anything anyone at home made!"

"Maybe it's because I used fresh eggs right off the nest." He said proudly. "I could teach you how to cook eggs like this if you want, but then again if you don't know how to hold a knife than you probably won't know how to flip an egg."

"Bite me." She said shoving food in her mouth.

Kankuro chuckled and finished off of what remained of his eggs. "Maybe I will." He said playfully. "Maybe I will."

Hinata dropped her phones and smiled at him. "Ass." She replied.

Soon she finished her eggs too, and they washed their dishes together. "What should we do now?" He said.

"I brought some of my favorite board games." She said. "We could play a few of them."

"That sounds like a good idea." He said as he scrubbed his plate.

"Ok, I'm done." She said, placing the plate in the cabinet and the spoon in the drawer. "I'm gonna go get one of the games set up, alright?"

"Yeah sure." He said. "But I get the blue guy."

Hinata turned around and rolled her eyes. "There is no 'blue guy', Kankuro." She said.

"Whatever." He said.

She smiled and shook her head slightly. "I'll never get you." She said as she continued to walk toward her room. She opened her door and looked out the window. She could see two birds on a tree looking frantically around their nest. "Those must be the parents." She said quietly. Then she put her hand over her stomach. "And these are the children."

A tear dripped down her face and landed on the hand that had been holding her stomach. She crouched down and put her hands over her head, so her head was being pushed into her knees. She hated knowing that she had killed something, especially birds.

"I'm done with my plate." Kankuro called. "Now, what game are we playing?"

Kankuro looked around the front room. "Hello anybody here." He yelled.

He looked at the hall that led to her room and frowned. "Guess I'll come to you." He said sighing.

He walked into her room and saw the crying figure that sat in front of him. "What's wrong." He said crouching down so he could look at her face. "You forget the games or somethin'?"

She pointed at the window. "The birds." She said while trying to make her voice sound less shaky. "I ate their babies. I caused them so much pain."

He put his arm around her shoulders. "It's ok." He said although he knew it wasn't ok.

Hinata instantly looked into Kankuro's eyes. "It's ok?" She said. "It's ok that we just permanently ruined those poor birds' lives? It's ok that we can't do anything to pay them back?"

"But…" He said trying to think of something to say.

"But what?" She said.

"You're right." He said finally. "There's nothing we can do to repay those birds. From now on we only eat fish." Then he realized something. "Hey, what about those fish we ate? We stole them from their families."

Hinata stopped crying. "Hey you're right." She said. "It's for survival."

Kankuro smiled. "Finally you see it my way!" He said. "Now let's get into something to swim in and go swimming. We'll play board games later, but for now let's just swim. That might get rid of all our troubles."

"Ok." Hinata said smiling. "Let's swim!"

"Hiiiiiiiiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" Temari cried while swinging her huge fan at Neji.

Neji did a back flip and avoided the sand ninja's second attempt with her fan. Then he ran to his left and lunged toward Temari, hoping that he could trip her with a low kick. Temari looked to her left and saw the incoming Neji and then to her right and saw the huge sand ball racing toward her. She made a few hand signals and hit the ground.

"I've got you now!" Neji said while kicking her shins.

Temari tripped and was instantly covered in a huge ball of sand.

"You loose." Gaara said.

"I loose?" Temari said. "I think you're the ones who lost."

The two looked up and saw the bottom of Temari's fan. Neji felt a small rock hit his face while Gaara blocked the rock coming at him with his sand. Temari laughed and swooped down to the ground. She stood with her fan at her side and smiled.

"How did you…" Neji started.

"…do that?" Gaara finished.

Temari smiled. "Easy. While you two were attacking I quickly made a sand doppelganger, and then flew up with my fan."

"Damn." Neji said. "You make sparring with us sound easy."

"It is easy." Temari said playfully.

"You never beat me." Gaara said. "I blocked your pebble with my sand."

"Which is attached to your gourd which is attached to you." She replied. "God, you can't loose once without arguing about it first."

Gaara sighed. There was no use in trying to tell her what she said didn't prove anything. "Fine. You won."

"That's what I thought." Temari said proudly. "Now let's go inside and take some nice cool showers. I don't want the house to smell like sweat all day."

"Alright." Neji said. "That's fine with me."

"It's getting late," Gaara said. "We probably should get inside."

"Last one there has to clean my fan!" Temari yelled as she ran toward their house, dragging her fan on the ground.

"It's getting late." Hinata said. "We should get some food."

"Yeah you're probably right." Kankuro replied. "But its way too cold to get fish, and I only found one nest so eggs are out of the question."

They sighed, and sat in their chairs, hungry and hoping. They had been sitting there for about an hour, and they were both wishing they had something to do to occupy them.

"Ahh that was refreshing." Temari said as she plopped on the couch.

Neji and Gaara sat in the couch on the other side of the coffee table, and they had been sitting there in their bath robes for almost half an hour waiting for her to join them. They nodded although they had no idea why women liked bathing so much.

"Why don't we get dinner ready?" Neji suggested. "I am kinda hungry, and it has been a long day."

"Isn't it kinda early for that?" Gaara said. "We usually have dinner around eight or so."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Don't you guys get hungry before that?"

"Nah," Temari said. "We're used to it; we don't get hungry until seven or something."

"I guess I'll need to get used to that too." Neji sighed.

"Are we that hard to deal with?" Gaara said angrily. "All you've been doing while you were here is complaining and flirting with my sister. I've had enough of it."

Temari stood up and slammed her hands on the coffee table. "Gaara what the hell?"

"Don't try to act all innocent, Temari." He replied defensively. "You know what's going on here and you're sick of it too."

"You're not the one who tells me what I think, little brother. And you certainly won't act this way in front of out guest!" She yelled.

"Tch. If he wasn't here you'd be agreeing with me." Gaara replied. "Don't try to act like someone you're not just to be polite."

"Uhh...why exactly are you fighting?" Neji said sheepishly.

Gaara's heated glance instantly flew off Temari and landed on the older Hyuuga. "What the hell do you mean why are we fighting? Siblings fight and you should know that."

No," Neji said calmly. "I meant how did this fight happen in the first place? It's unnecessary."

"It's unnecessary?" He mimicked. "Those belts on your head are unnecessary, I'm trying to help my sister see that you're being a spoiled brat, and that is fucking necessary."

"Enough!" Temari yelled as she threw her arms out to block the two men beside her. "You both are unnecessary! This fight is unnecessary! Gaara I appreciate you trying to help, but seriously."

She glanced at her younger sibling and stormed off toward the patio, leaving the two to sit there and try to figure out what to do next.

"I'm going to bed." Gaara said, and stormed off toward his room.

"But you don't," Neji began to say but was interrupted by a large slam. "Sleep."

"So…hungry." Kankuro groaned.

The two had been lying there for hours, trying to think of something to eat. And because they hadn't eaten anything besides eggs all day, it was hard to think.

"I know." Hinata said with one hand holding a book over her head and another on her stomach. "I can't even concentrate on my book I'm so hungry."

"Hey, what's that you're reading anyway?" He said sitting up.

Hinata lifted the book and turned her head to look at Kankuro. "Huh?" She said, puzzled.

"What are you reading?" He repeated.

"No, I heard you. I just didn't think you'd be interested." She said happily.

"Well I am, I guess." He said quickly. "So just tell me."

"Alright." She said. "It's about this guy who meets this girl who's from the past, and she has this harp thing that can travel through time. She's trying to kill this one dude but he can travel through time as well so it's hard to track him down. She says she needs assistance so she teaches the guy how to perfect his sword skills. They meet two other people along the way, it's pretty good."

"Sounds interesting, I guess." He said. "What's that 10 on the cover for?"

She blinked a couple of times and said, "It stands for the tenth volume."

"Wait, I thought that was a novel not a manga." He said.

"No, it is a novel, but the author made 10 volumes of the novel." She said. "It's too bad I can't focus on reading it, I'd really love to see what happens."

The two sighed a deep sigh and went on lying there. They knew there was no hope for finding food, now. As they lay there they hoped that things would get better along the way. And the situation was pretty much the same in Sunagakure.


	5. Chapter 5 An unexpected visitor

Bing! The hour timer on the clock ticked once again. Gaara opened an eye and looked at the time. Six o' clock Am. Just one more hour before he would wake up Temari. He had been standing on the ceiling with his arms crossed all night. It's what he usually did, but this time, the hours felt longer, and the urge to wake up his sister grew stronger.

"They're so lucky they can sleep." He said. "How many hours do they need anyway? Three should be enough."

He looked towards the hallway that lead to the rooms. He wanted to see her, he just didn't know why. "Three should be enough." He repeated and hopped down to the ground.

Gaara walked slowly down the hall and paused at the door that blocked Temari's room from the rest of the household. He turned the knob, and it stopped turning halfway. "It's locked." He said unemotionally. It was normal that she'd lock herself in her room when she was upset, and fortunately for Gaara, he could mold his sand into a key. He opened his gourd and watched sand pour out of it. He raised his arm and sand shot to the keyhole. Pretty soon, the door was unlocked.

Gaara placed the cap back on his gourd and turned the knob once more, this time it opened. He smiled at what he saw, his sister sleeping. He walked over and crouched down so he could see her face up close. Her mouth was open, and she was drooling on her pillow. She held her weasel plushie, which he noticed was missing an eye, close to her chest.

She rolled over on her back, moving the plushie along with her. Gaara stood up and looked at her peaceful expression. He admired it; he would give almost anything to be able to sleep like that.

He slouched a little bit; he wanted to see more of her expression. He could feel her breath blow against his face. He kept his mouth closed; he didn't want her to wake up.

Temari's eye twitched slightly.

His heart was racing and his lungs began to hurt.

Her breathing grew heavier.

He couldn't hold it any longer, he had to breathe.

Her mouth closed.

He gave in, and breathed softly against Temari's face.

Her eyes opened; she got up, and hit Gaara's face head on. He fell back and placed a hand on his bleeding forehead.

"Ugh." He groaned. "Dammit, Temari your head is like a fricken rock."

"Mmm, Gaara?" She said still half asleep. "Oh god did I hit you?" She flew her blanket off and immediately crouched down to see if Gaara was alright.

"Yeah." He said. "I'm fine, how about you?"

"I'm fine." She said happily. "What happened?"

"Nothing." He said quickly. "I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd check up on you."

"That's a lie." She said. "You don't sleep, and there's no need to check on me when it's six in the morning. Now I demand you tell me what happened."

"Nothing." He repeated. "Now let's forget all about this and get breakfast ready."

Gaara began to get up, but Temari quickly grabbed his arm. "There's something going on." She said clearly annoyed. "It's not everyday I wake up to hit my little brothers head."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" He said as he swung his arm free of Temari's grasp. "I just wanted to check up on you!"

"No you didn't!" She said, and she grabbed both of his arms and pinned him down. "Why would you want to check up on me in the first place? There's no reason too, unless…"

"Umm am I interrupting something?" Neji said.

Temari quickly looked at the figure standing in the doorway. Then she realized her position. She was pinning her little brother against the carpet and she was clearly on top of him. She let go of Gaara's arms and got up. "No no come in." She said quickly.

"Is this uhh a bad time?" Neji asked.

"No." Gaara said defensively. "What do you want?"

"Nothing really." He said. "I just heard screaming and banging and wondered what was going on."

Temari blushed and quickly yelled, "We were banging?"

"Ugh, could you be any louder?" Gaara said while rubbing his ear.

"This uh isn't what you're thinking it is." Temari said ignoring Gaara's comment. "Ehehehe how silly right, Gaara? Ehehehe."

"No not at all." Gaara said.

"Hey, Gaara you're bleeding!" Neji said.

"What!" Temari yelled, blushing.

"No I uh meant on his forehead." Neji said.

"Oh right of course." Temari said laughing.

"Bitch." Gaara snorted.

"Gaara just banged his head that's all." Temari said. "Now let's get breakfast started."

"Hey, retard." Kankuro said as he flicked another rubber band at Hinata's face. "Wake up, it's already noon."

"Ugh." Hinata groaned. "Huh? Wha?"

She saw Kankuro sitting lazily on the floor with his back pressing against her door. He sat with one arm resting on his knee and another relaxing on the rough carpet. He was wearing his usual black pants and a long sleeved black shirt. His hat and his makeup were gone, and his hair was damp and tangled.

"It's noon." He said impatiently. "And I caught some fish with a spear I made. We have breakfast."

"Breakfast?" She yelled.

She instantly threw her blanket off and ran towards the table. And as he promised, Kankuro had caught about five fish. They were cut into neatly made cubes and would normally be an appetizer, but to Hinata, it was a feast.

"Damn!" She said excitedly. "You did all this? But it's so early I- I mean- didn't you say you didn't want to fish in the morning time?"

"Didn't I tell you already? I made a spear, you dork." But she didn't hear his insults; she was lost in her ecstasy and stuttering gratitude.

When she was done gaping and blabbing, Hinata pulled her chair out and began wolfing down her breakfast. Kankuro sighed and pulled his own chair out and watched her eat. It was strange, she was eating like a total slob yet it was, in a way he couldn't explain, somewhat cute.

"Ahh, I'm stuffed." She said, leaning back in her chair with a relaxed hand on her belly. "Hey, why didn't you eat?"

"I had some while you were asleep." He said plaintively. "Now come on, let's put the rest in the fridge so we can eat tonight."

"Ok." Hinata said happily. "Let's go outside when you're done."

With that, she pushed her chair in and walked towards her room to get dressed. Kankuro sighed. "That's not exactly what I meant when I said 'let's put the rest in the fridge' but ok."

Hinata closed the door to her room and locked it. "I should probably lock this before I go to sleep." She thought aloud. "So Kankuro can't come in here and wake me up." Then she shrugged and opened the huge window that foreshadowed her bed. The fresh air felt good, and she stood there for a little while and let the air take its effect. She sighed happily and strode towards her closet and grabbed the cloths she was going to wear; her overly baggy black pants and a loose fitting black shirt. It was too hot to wear her jacket.

Kankuro slid the plate of fish in the refrigerator and waited impatiently for Hinata to finish dressing. He waited a good five minutes until Hinata finally showed up. She grabbed his sleeve and led him outside. The sun reflected off the river bank, making the water glisten and shine. It was a perfect day for a walk.

"We've been here for about three days now, right?" Hinata said, letting go of Kankuro's sleeve. "And we've only walked around once. I'd be nice if we could go see the waterfall again. And I forgot where the hot springs were. Why don't we walk around again and find where everything is."

"That sounds fine with me." Kankuro said.

Hinata smiled and walked down the steps, Kankuro followed. She clasped her arms together in the air and stretched, her shirt lifting slightly to expose her stomach. Kankuro looked the other way and watched the fish hop slightly out of the water. It was too bad Hinata didn't wake up earlier; there were more fish out in the morning.

"I'll take this one." Temari said as she held up a small weasel plushie.

"I think you'll be happy with that one." The shopkeeper said happily. "The person who made that one also made a lot of others that people have liked in the past."

"Thanks Tsuochi-san." Temari said gratefully. "I can always count on you to get the best stuff."

"Oh no, it's me who should thank you." Tsuochi said. "You're my best costumer! Now, that'll be two dollars and forty nine cents please."

Gaara and Neji watched silently as Temari paid for her things. "How many weasel plushies does she have?" Neji asked.

Gaara sighed. "There's too many to count. She's been collecting them ever since she was four. Or that's what she says at least."

"Wow." Neji said.

Temari pulled the plushie out of her bag and pressed it against her cheek. "I'm so glad they had the one I wanted! My friend told me about it and I just had to check it out for myself."

"Which friend?" Gaara asked.

Temari lowered the weasel to her stomach and looked at her brother with a puzzled expression. "Hinata, why?"

"Nothing much. I'm just curious that's all." Gaara said plaintively.

"Oh yeah." Neji said. "Hinata collects all kinds of bird plushies back at home. The Godaime's assistant showed Hinata her pig plushie collection and now she's infatuated with them."

"Ha! I've been collecting them longer." Temari said proudly.

"It's not a contest." Gaara said.

"Yeah you're one to talk Mr. 'flirting with my sister'." Temari said sarcastically.

Gaara snapped. "You bitch is this what I get for trying to help you!"

"Ahahaha you like your sister, you like your sister!" Temari chanted.

"God dammit I outta kill you!" Gaara yelled.

Neji watched as Temari laughed and Gaara got more pissed by the second. It was a normal brother sister feud, one that he never had. He wished he could have a normal family. His damn father and his damn clan prevented anything that didn't allow anything that wasn't beneficial to the name "Hyuuga".

Temari glanced at Neji and stopped laughing. "Is something wrong?" She asked. "You have this weird, serious look goin' on."

Neji came back to the situation at hand. "No, no. Nothing's wrong at all I was just thinking about how this little predicament is like something that would happen in an anime." He said.

"You watch anime?" Gaara said suspiciously. "You don't seem like the type but alright."

"What do you mean I don't seem like the type?" Neji said.

Gaara laughed a little to himself. "Come on, think about it. You watching anime is like me wearing a teletubby costume and liking it. It just doesn't fit."

Neji thought for a couple seconds and smiled. "You're right." He said. "You wearing a teletubby costume creates a very weird image in my head."

A couple of minutes passed by as the trio walked back from the town and towards their home. Temari's eyes widened and she looked like she had just realized something important. "Woah." She said.

"What's woah? Gaara asked.

Temari put her hand to her mouth and laughed a little. "Teletubby Gaara!"

Gaara was pissed again. "Ugh, seriously I know as a teletubby is creepy, but can we please drop the subject?" He said.

"Pfft, I just got the picture in my head again." Neji said.

"I'll kill you both!" Gaara yelled.

During the rest of their walk Temari and Neji laughed, while Gaara walked ahead, still pissed. And all through the night, the image of Gaara and fudge bars smeared all over his face stuck in their heads.

"Wow, I didn't realize how late it is." Hinata said while looking up at the sky. "We must've been walking for a long time."

"Yeah." Kankuro said. "So are you gonna go into the hot springs tonight?"

"Are you crazy?" She said. "You saw that bear! As far as I'm concerned, I'm not goin anywhere near that place."

Kankuro laughed softly and scratched his head. They _had_ been walking for a long time. He didn't remember the waterfall being so far away. Sure they were only steps away from their house, but they couldn't wait to get home.

"It's funny." Hinata said. "It was so hot earlier, but now there's a small breeze, making it not as hot."

"Yeah I noticed that too." Kankuro said, with his hands in his pockets.

"It's weird." She said. "The day gets prepared to turn into night, but why does the night have to steal the day's warmth? If the moon steals the suns light, then why shouldn't it steal the heat the light produces?"

Kankuro turned his head to look at Hinata. She was looking up at the sunset and the multicolored clouds that surrounded it. Her eyes looked like moons, stealing the suns light and making it its own, then reflecting it. He liked the way they looked; he wished they could stay that way forever.

He wanted more than anything to say, "What are you, a freakin poet?" but he knew that would ruin the moment. "I wish I knew." He said instead and looked at the sunset as well.

When Kankuro was being dragged to the river, he loathed the fact that he was going to spend two full weeks with a shy little Hyuuga brat that couldn't stick up for herself, but his impression of her was completely wrong. She wasn't the shy little thing she used to be, and in a way, he liked this new Hinata.

"Oi!" Yelled a familiar voice. "Hinata-chan! What are you doing here?"

Hinata instantly turned around. It couldn't be, Naruto? Her worst fears were a reality, Naruto was sitting on a rock, his jacket off and his white undershirt completely drenched. The necklace of the first Hokage was swaying in the wind, and the droplets of water in his short blonde hair blew off. He was sitting there waving, and he was soaked in the river water.

"Hey, retard." Jiraiya said from behind the rock. "Did you fall in the water again?"

Naruto's attention quickly turned to Jiraiya. "Perverted sennin! Let's see you do anything to help get food!"

"Is that…" Kankuro began to say, but was interrupted by Hinata falling to the ground. Kankuro quickly picked her up and waved his hand above her face. Naruto jumped off the rock and dashed toward Hinata. "What happened?" He yelled.

"She fainted." Kankuro said. "And just when I thought she had stopped being so shy, this happens. This chick never fails to prove me wrong."

"Why'd she faint?" Naruto asked. "Did she eat something?"

Kankuro looked at the panicked Naruto. He may have gotten older, and hell even a little more mature, but he was still an idiot. He sighed and said, "I don't know, let's take her inside and have her rest on the couch."

Kankuro picked her up, and motioned with his head to Naruto, letting him know it was ok to follow. They walked in and placed Hinata on the couch. They both stood there, waiting for her to wake up.

"Dammit." Naruto said to himself. "I did something wrong again."

Kankuro looked at him. "You didn't do anything wrong, you just surprised her." He said.

"I know, but still." He said sadly. "I can't help but feel that Hinata doesn't like me. I mean, she's always fainting or hiding from me. I hope she doesn't hate me."

Kankuro laughed. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What the hell is so funny?" He said.

"Nothing." Kankuro said. "It's just you're being so serious and getting all worked up about it when really she feels the exact opposite."

Naruto looked even more confused. "What do you mean? Ugh, you sand ninjas don't make any sense."

Kankuro shook his head. Naruto will forever be the biggest idiot on Earth.


End file.
